Blowtorch



Sept. 27, 1949, L R, CROUCH 2,482,843

BLOWTORCH 0 original Filed-oct. 13, 1943 fave/72@ 7^ lqyaLp. Craua/v,

fr/feas Patented Sept. 27,1949

BLOWTORCH Logan R. Crouch, Jackson, Miss.K

substituted 'for abandoned applicationSerial N o.

506,102, Ootober-13,' 1943.2

Thisv l application- July 19,419.46,v Serial No. 685,006!` 4 Claims...(Cl. 158,.-27A) This inventionrelatesto :metalicutting torches-- of the@type:employing an 4imiammable gas andi oxygen"V under r pressure as: Aa .burning t fuel for preheating metal to a: desired.; temperature landthenA discharging along with the heatingA iiame ongthe .fmetaltA a.concentrated ow; of"r oxygenthe severing: operation and thereby'.eliminate. overheatingpf the metal, `and whichvvillin'noWaywrequireadditional yeffort lon the part of fthe operator inzusing thetorch for cutting the metal.

With.. these and other objects inview, as will become more apparentrasthe description .pro-- ceeds,'the-invention consists in certain novelvfeaturesof construction, combination and ar- .y rangementoflpartsas..Will'be.herei-nafter more fully described and claimed. For-a.oom-plete understanding of my invention,

reference-is torbe: hadto the Afollowing description andaccompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 41' is: a vertical sectional Viewillustratinga l metall cutting rtorch constructed in' accordance withlmyinvention. 1

Figure-2 .-is van-end'vievv.showing the-arrangel ment of passagesorports inthe'receiving end'of the nozzle of -the torch.

FigureeB Visfani-end View4 showing the Aports *iny the discharge end ofthenozzle of the torch- Referring-indetailto the drawing, vthe numeral'5 'indicates-as.. an entirety'a suitable housing of'v any f desiredshapey and which has f detachably connected thereto la sleeve -6 formingan integral, part of a head 'I constructed to removably'receive anozz1e-85- The fheadf'! is recessed to receive one end of the nozzleandthe..vvalls..of the recess are stepped to match the stepped formation ofone end fof-the nozzlefA A retainer ring 9 engages thenozzlew-andf..

threads onftheahead `'hier removably-securing the nozzle in the head andVfoi` bringing about a leak-proof connection between the head and the lnozzle.

The nozzle f8 A has a centrally `arranged passage I0 extendingffromendto endfthereof adapted to deliver Ya cutting j etf. Thenozzle -isfurther' pro wardly through the discharge end of the nozzle n an annularpath, some of the passages VI I open outwardly through one stepped faceor end ofthe nozzle and connect with a passage I2 formedin the head'L'said passages I I being-adapted to deliver afplurality'of primaryheating jets for pre zheating a regionalarea of the metal. Otherpassages II spaced `from eachother andvfrom the centrally arrangedpassage `I!! open through anotherstepped face or end of the nozzle andcommunicate with a passage I3 formed in the head, said passages beingadapted to deliver a plurality ofl secondary heating jets. I0communica-tes Witha passage I4 formed in the head 1.

Main feed pipes YI 5 and YII equipped with main control valves I1 extendinto the housing 5 and connect-With amixing chamber I8 which is inturn,I connected tothe passage I2 by a pipe- I9 extending through thesleeve 6 from the housing 5.l The main supp1y=pipes-l5 and I6 arefurther provid-ed with regulating valves 20 -operable from thevexteriorvoi thefhousingvvand located in the pipes-between the valves Iland the mixing chamber I8. The main feed pipe I5 is connected `to asou-rceof inflammable gas, suchY as acetylene vunder pressure,whi1ethemain feed pipe I6 is connected `to a source of oxygen under pressure.'I'heinam-mable gas and oxygen are mixed in thechamber v'I8 yto producea-highly combustible mixture fed from the discharge end ofthe nozzleLAYby certain of the passages I I.

The feed pipeIS .has connected thereto, Within the housing 5, a'pipe `2I Whichextends through the'sleevel' andv connects to the passagel I4 of`the 4head `I. A spring seated valve '22 is connected :in the pipe 2I andis normally closed with itsplunger-*extendingexteriorly of thehousing tober engaged; by^angoperating lever 23 pivotally mounted xon thehousing,as shown at 24. The oXygen pipe 2 Irconnects to the main oxygen feed`ypipe .I6 .between'the valves Il and 20 of said main oxygenrpipe I6 andwhen the valve 22 is manually opened, a ow of oxygen escapes at thedischarge-.endofnthe.nozzle by way of vthe passage Iin a concentratedflow, the purpose of which 'fis tob-ring about severance of the metalafter the metal Whichproduces excessive heat and results.

Therefore, itis the inY overheating of the metal. primary purpose of thepresent invention to automatically reduce the heat on the metal used inThe central passage preheating of said metal when the severing operationstarts, and to accomplish this, pipes 25 and 26 equipped with controlvalves 25 and 26' are connected to the main feed pipes I5 and I6 betweenthe valves Il and and are connected to a mixing chamber 21. A pipe 28connects the mixing chamber 21 to the passage I3 of the head 'I whichcommunicates with some of the passages Il.

A spring actuated normally open valve 29 is connected into the pipe 28between the mixing chamber 2li and the passage I3, and the stem 30thereof extends exteriorly of the housing 5 adjacent the plunger of thevalve 22 to be engaged by the operating lever 23 when the latter isactuated to open the valve 22 bringing about cutting off of the flow ofmixed fuel entering the passage i3 and some of the passages l l,reducing the amount of fuel burning at the discharge end of the nozzleat the time of directing the concentrated stream of oxygen against themetal. The amount of heat being subjected to the metal during thesevering operation is thus automaticaln ly reduced at this time, due tothe cutting off of the additional flow of burning fuel through thenozzle by the closing of the valve 29.

The stem 39 is adjustable as to length, as shown at 39', so that thevalves :22 and 29 may be made to work together by the lever 23 at anytime desired. By shortening the stem 39 the valve 22 may be made to workby the hand lever without operating the valve 29. When the device isthus arranged it will then operate without the automatic feature and asthat of an ordinary cutting torch.

A check valve 3! is interposed in the pipe 2Ev between the mixingchamber 27 and the inamgas iced pipe i5. The purpose of the check valveis to prevent oxygen, which is usually used under a higher pressure thanthe inflammable gas, from entering the main inflammable gas supply pipei5 when the valve 29 is manually closed.

Thus from the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, it will be seen that applicant has provided asimple automatic means for reducing the heat to the metal after it hasbeen preheated and at the time or directing the concentrated flow ofoxygen to the metal for the severance thereof. As the of automaticallycutting down on the heat to the metal at the time specified is entirelyautomatic, it requires no additional eiort on the part of the operatorin using a torch of the kind specified.

While I have described the pipes and 26 as being connected to the mainfeed pipes l5 and E 6, said pipes 25 and 2E may be directly connected tothe source of inflammable gas and oxygen, by extending them exteriorlyof the housing and providing conventional connections with the sourcesspecied.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that minor changes in construction,combination and arrangement of parts may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

This application is a substitute of my application Serial No. 506,102,filed October 13, 1943, Blow torch, now abandoned.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a torch for cutting metal which. includes separate means fordelivering preheating and oxidizing jets to a work piece from a nozzle,the improvement comprising separate primary and secondary conduits fordelivering primary and secondary mixtures of oxidizing and combustiblegases to said nozzle, a third conduit for delivering an oxidizing gas tosaid nozzle, a normally closed valve in said last-named conduit, anadjustable valve in said secondary conduit, said adjustable valve beingnormally at least partially open, and a single valve control means foropening said first-named valve and simultaneously at least partiallyclosing said adjustable valve.

2, In a torch for cutting metal which includes separate means fordelivering preheating and oxidizing jets to a work piece from a nozzle,the improvement comprising separate primary and secondary conduits fordelivering primary and secondary mixtures of oxidizing and combustiblegases to said nozzle, separate means operatively associated with both ofsaid primary and secondary conduits for selectively varying the gasmixtures in each, a third conduit for' delivering an oxidizing gas tosaid nozzle, a normally closed valve in said last-named conduit, anadjustable valve in said secondary conduit, said adjustable valve beingnormally at least partially open, and la single valve control means foropening said first-named valve and simultaneously at least partiallyclosing said adjustable valve.

3. In a torch for cutting metal which includes separate means fordelivering preheating and oxidizing jets to a work piece from a nozzle,the improvement comprising separate primary and secondary conduits fordelivering primary end secondary mixtures of oxidizing and combustiblegases to said nozzle, a third conduit for delivering an oxidizing gas tosaid nozzle, a normally closed valve in said last-named conduit, anormally open valve in one of said secondary and primary conduits, and asingle valve control means for opening said rst-named valve andsimultaneously closing said normally open valve.

4. In a torch for cutting metal which includes separate means fordelivering preheating and oxidizing jets to a work piece from a nozzle,the improvement comprising separate primary and secondary conduits fordelivering primary and secondary mixtures of oxidizing and combustiblegases to said nozzle, separate means operatively associated with both ofsaid primary and secondary conduits for selectively varying the gasmixture in each, a third conduit for delivering an oxidizing gas to saidnozzle, a normally closed valve in said last-named conduit, a normallyopen valve in one of said secondary and primary ccnduits, and a singlevalve control means for opening said first-named valve andsimultaneously closing said normally open valve.

LOGAN R. CROUCI-I.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 709,830 Snow Sept. 23, 19021,494,747 Jenkins May 20, 1924 1,537,481 McCutcheon May 12, 19251,771,511 Quelch July 29, 1930 2,224,171 Van Triest Dec. 10, 1940

